Lady Gaga has been open about her mental health issues and how she tries to cope up to raise public awareness. Now, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, the 33-year-old star revealed she also suffered a psychotic break and self-harming while dealing with the pain and trauma after being raped.
Lady Gaga told Oprah Winfrey for the December issue of Elle magazine that the psychotic break "was one of the worst things" that ever happened to her. The songstress detailed that she was screaming and asking for a real doctor when she was brought to the emergency room as her whole body went numb.
The break was said to be the result of her trauma and fibromyalgia, a chronic pain that causes muscle pain, fatigue, and memory problems. Lady Gaga described that her two conditions' response works together.
Although she revealed that her fibro only causes lighter pain, her trauma has a more substantial response that makes her remember the time that she was dropped on a street after being repeatedly raped for months. "It's a recurring feeling," she said.
Lady Gaga added that she started taking antipsychotic medication after her break. To recall, she canceled a world tour in 2017 due to a physical condition, Radar Online noted. At the time, she wrote an emotional open letter to her fans, saying that she had been honest about her physical and mental health issues. As she already spent years to get to the bottom of the problem, she admitted it was complicated and difficult to explain and still trying to figure it out.
Also, she talked about her post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and added that she still continuously goes to behavioral therapy to manage the condition. The A Star is Born actress takes dialectical behavioral therapy, an intensive type of treatment, which she said is a big help to deal with mental health issues. It also helps her deal with cutting that she also has a problem with.
The Shallow hitmaker also confessed that she was a cutter for a long time. The only way she stopped cutting and hurting herself was when she realized that she was only trying to show people that she was in pain instead of telling them that she needed help.
With all these revelations, Lady Gaga declared that her only intention is to share her experience with cutting and to stop others from doing it. The singer-songwriter proudly said that she is now grateful that she doesn't do it anymore and has no intention to glamorize it.
She even advised anyone who suffers from trauma, self-harm problems, or other suicidal thoughts to use ice. "If you put your hands in a bowl of ice-cold water, it shocks the nervous system, and it brings you back to reality," Lady Gaga suggested.
